results, i'm told, by democratic sources. republicans themselves, too, are not expected to say much about everything that happened over the last four years. they're ready to move on and not remember what happened on january 6th, 2021. at the same time, dana, congress has already taken steps to make it harder to replicate what happened four years ago. remember that time, just one house member and one senator were enough to force a vote in the house and the senate to overturn the electoral results. this time in the aftermath of january 6th, 2021, congress substantially raise the threshold. now one fifth of the house and one fifth of the senate need to agree to have a vote to overturn in the certified electoral votes of the states. that will simply not happen as both sides want to demonstrate a return to normalcy over what's four years ago and legislative action to prevent what happened last time and don't expect ÷÷kamala harris to do

anything other than certify the electoral results even as difficult as undoubtedly will be for her. i'm going to throw it back to you, that she is steeling herself for this moment where she's going to be presiding over her own loss. >> on this january 6, president- elect trump is at mar-a- lago on the brink of his return to the white house. jeff zeleny is in west palm beach. what do we know about his mindset on this day that holds so much significance for his political fate, past and present? >> we do know that president- elect donald trump is at mar-a-lago, as you said, and he's expected to be watching these events unfold. talking to one senior adviser, they characterize this as pure vindication, pointing out the number of electoral votes, 312, that he won to kamala harris' 226.

that's the mindset going into the president- elect as he is just two weeks away in this hour from becoming the 47th president. he's already been working at a break- neck pace to fill his government, of course, the confirmation hearings will be forthcoming in the senate. but jake, it is a remarkable turnaround. what was a deep political liability, a deep political wound has become a strength and a political asset, largely through whitewashing of history. looking at a truth social post this morning that the president- elect posted, it was an image from four years ago of his supporters on the national mall as he addressed them on the ellipse. that is what he posted this morning. that is the sense. there is no sense of acknowledging the true events of four years ago. he's looking forward. he had a radio interview with hugh hewitt this morning, also making that point very clear. he says there is no resistance that there was eight years ago.

people are more with him. there is a different feel, there is no question here, but we're not expecting to hear from the president- elect today. we're told he will likely speak tomorrow, buthere's no doubt he's watching and pure vindication is his mindset. >> jeff zeleny, thank you so much. and let's bring in my panel. you know, it is really difficult to think about the majesty of this day without reflecting upon what happened four years ago. jeff talked about whitewashing. i want to run a clip from four years ago, which really required no great prescience by me, but it was ongoing when it was -- and very easy to predict, if we can run that clip. >> i want people to remember how they feel watching these images of the united states capitol being taken over, and these clear acts of sedition and violence and terrorism by trump supporters because there's going to be an attempt to whitewash and pretend this

didn't happen. >> an attempt to whitewash and pretend this didn't happen, and in fact, there was. for millions of americans, it worked. >> it was very successful. anyone would argue, if you're a critic of trump's or a fan of his. i was thinking as you look at the contrast of four years ago, especially how trump himself and those around him view it. i was there covering the white house that day, talking to people who worked there, who were calling, who were horrified by what they were watching. a lot of them resigned that day and said they would never be in his orbit ever again. many are trying to get back into it right now. >> betsy devos, for example. >> and and the cabinet secretary who has resigned and has been in fund- raising meetings recently. trump himself, that day he resisting, he resisted coming out and telling people to come home, until his daughter stepped in. look what he did this past weekend at mar-a-lago. he held a screening of a documentary focused on john

eastman, who of course, was the famous attorney who urged vice president mike pence, saying he did have the legal authority to stop the certification. >> which he was wrong. >> trump held a screening this weekend praising him, saying that he was correct, which obviously he wasn't. he lost his law license over that, he's been charged criminally over there. it speaks to how trump is viewing that as he's preparing to be back on the steps in a matter of weeks from 93. >> people died that day, four trump supporters died. a police officer named brian sicknick, after being violently confronted by the mob, died. other police officers died by suicide after the trauma of the day. you talked to gladys sicknick, brian's mother. >> i said how are you doing? understandably, she said i'm a mess today. and it is very hard for her to

see donald trump re- elected, coming into power. of course, she lost her son, but she said to me, quote, nothing will bring back brian or the others who helped defend democracy that day, not to mention all the cops who were hurt, end quote. i think it's important just to keep in mind, today is going to be surreal. four years ago was surreal. today is going to be surreal for a lot of politicians. for nancy pelosi, all of the leadership who were evacuated that day, for liz cheney whine effect left her party, became vice chair of the january 6th committee. for mitch mcconnell, you know, so much has changed. but i think we should also take a moment to remember what the capitol hill police, the d.c. metropolitan police, other members of law enforcement, who all came from the justice department, dea, atf, to try to help that day.

>> i think, look, i think it's important to celebrate the normal of today. that this is going to play out the way it was supposed to play out four years ago, the way it's supposed to play out every four years. this is supposed to be america's example to the world. it didn't happen four years ago. you were right that day and right today that it continues. it will continue throughout the next four years of the trump presidency. whether you voted for donald trump or not, celebrate today, but it the points made, don't forget what happened four years ago. one of the darkest, most ominous, embarrassing days in america's history, in america's role as the beacon of democracy in the world. we have a lot to talk about today. we have a lot to talk about in two weeks when donald trump comes back into office. some are excited by that, others are repulsed by that. today is a day, we have been doing this a long time, didn't get much attention until four years ago because it was so routine. it was quick news coverage,

not your whole team deployed, not worried about security. not eyes on every. i was flying home from a vacation and they were checking i.d. s at the gates of flights to come to d.c. because of january 6th. that only happened after 9/11, so we live in a different world now. hopefully at the end of this day, we'll say it wend well, it went the way it was supposed to go. the idea of the whitewashing and forgetting for those police officers and those who were hurt, those who are still hurt and suffering from that, and many who will be there today doing their jobs who were there four years ago. imagine being in their boots today, standing there today, having been there four years ago, and you know, we expect and we pray it goes well. but that has to be a pretty -- to go back to the word surreal, a surreal day to be a member of law enforcement in washington, d.c. who was there four years ago tanding there now thinking here we go. >> there was a purpose to the whitewashing. the purpose was to get donald trump back into the white house. if you look at approval

ratings for donald trump, in january 2021, he had a 36% or -- 34% approval rating. and at the time of the election, 48% approval rating. still not a majority, but enough for a presidential win. >> also, i can't overstate how just that period right after january 6th, and what trump's orbit looked like, will shape what his second term looks like. this is something that's really important for everyone to watch in terms of who is around trump and how that kind of access oo of influence around him has shifted because he was abandoned by a lot of republicans, a lot of his own staffers and employees in the days after that. and he had a small circle around him that traveled with him to mar-a-lago, that stayed in touch with him. a lot of those people have become some of his closest advisers who are making key decisions about who is going to be in charge of key agencies and critical roles in the

incoming administration. that period has really changed his view of this and what that's going to look like. but in terms of the whitewashing and purchase of it, one thing he always said to his attorneys over the last few years as he was being indicted for his attempted to overturn the election was, if he could just stay out of jail long enough, they could just delay things long enough, he would win and he would be back. and here he is, and the key thing to remember is he's more emboldened now since he's been since the 2016 win. >> with fewer guardrails. the people who went down to mar-a- lago with him were people who unlike then speaker kevin mccarthy, unlike then republican leader mitch mcconnell, thought thought january 6th was just fine. thought it was just fine what happened that day. those are the people who now have his ear the most. still ahead, as we await the final certification of president-elect trump's victory, we'll talk more about the impact of that attack on the capitol four years ago. a key republican member

of the january 6th house committee joins us next.

members of the new 119th congress are making their way through a snow storm to capitol hill where they'll formally certify the results of the 2024 election ahead of donald trump's inauguration two weeks from now. welcome back to our special coverage. this date, january 6th,

will forever be associated with the unprecedented attack on the u.s. capitol four years ago. tom foreman reminds us it wasn't always that way. >> reporter: it was never supposed to be like this. congressional certification of the vote for president is typically a short official affair, largely ceremonial. it was that way when george w. bush won, when barack obama won, when donald trump won the first time. it started that way just after 1:00 p.m. on january 6th, 2021. and the process should be like that this year. the votes are brought in. >> let's go. let's sort. >> reporter: the joint meeting of congress is called to order. then in alphabetical otherer, the electoral results from each state are reported and added up. >> josef r. biden jr. >> three votes. >> nine votes. >> seven votes. >> 55 votes.

>> reporter: when it is done, the winning presidential and vice presidential candidates are declared. only in 2021, it didn't go like that. >> let's have trial by combat. >> reporter: even before lawmakers convened, then- president donald trump was whipping a rally of his supporters into a frenzy. >> we fight like hell. and if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore. >> reporter: when many marched on the capitol, all hell broke loose. police were attacked, windows smashed. officers injured. >> everybody stay down. >> reporter: by 2:30, the chambers were being evacuated and lawmakers rushed to safe hiding places. among them, trump's running mate, vice president mike pence, who refused trump's calls to stop the certification amid unfounded allegations of voter fraud. [ chanting hang mike pence ]

>> reporter: a rioter was shot and killed by a police officer. interlopered filled the halls and ransacked offices. trump's allies pleaded for him to speak up, and he finally did, after more than three hours. >> we had an election that was stolen from us. but you have to go home now. we have to have peace. >> reporter: by 8:00 p.m. , the capitol was secure again. >> those who wreaked havoc in our capitol today, you did not win. >> reporter: and lawmakers who never abandoned the building entirely returned to their work. nearly 4:00 in the morning, incoming president joe biden and vice president kamala harris were certified. >> joseph r. biden jr. of the state of delaware has received 306 votes. >> reporter: as the official and legal winners. tom foreman, cnn, washington. >> that's how we remember the day now. the question is will history remember it that way?

four or 40 years from now. congressman kinzinger, you were in the house. you tweeted at 4:30 p.m. four years ago on this day, you tweeted this is a coup attempt. do you think that history will remember this the way it actually happened? >> i do. look, we're in this emotion. donald trump got defeated. he kwijsed -- look, he convince his base that election was stolen from him. that for four years built this intense anger where they truly believed this deep state garbage was happening. he's going to be president now for four years. he's go to own everything that happens in the economy, in the world, and that like excitement, that like we have been robbed will wear off. and history has this amazing ability to accurately reflect the happenings of that day. so while maybe today it's kind of surreal that we're here four years later after that and putting donald trump back in the presidency. history will not be kind to him. i'm glad you brought up my tweet. speaker johnson tweeted this

on january 6th, 2021. i unambiguously condemn any and all forms of violent protest, any individual who committed violence today should be prosecuted to the fullest extept of the law. that's going to be a question when donald trump gets into office and decides does he want to prosecute the people who looked into what happened on january 6th and embarrassed him and harden the people who did what speaker johnson just four years ago said they should be prosecuted for. >> if you think four years ago, back on this day, the idea that the former president not only would become president again but would be able to convince so many people that, i mean, he kept repeating it is a day of love. that's the line he'll use moving forward. >> it actually is not surprising trump was able to do that because the very fact that jibs happened in the first place is evidence of trump's political power. those people were there because of him. you saw in that video that we just played, he said, the election was stolen from us.

he said that even as people were breaking into the capitol. trump never backed down from the fundamental lie that was at the heart of january 6th. and he still does not to this day. so january 6th, i think, is a symptom of a broader problem, which is that there are millions of people in this country who are willing to believe anything that trump says, even if it's a blatant provable lie. and for the congress, i think the members, some of whom are in the chamber, who will be in the chamber today, the members who backed trump up, who continue to try to gaslight the country about what happened that day, who insist this was predominantly peaceful when we saw with our own eyes what happened, those people are still in power. and i think that the next four years is going to be heavily influenced by their attempts both in terms of rhetoric and in terms of official actions because there's a lot they want to do in congress to try to codify this idea that january 6th was not violent.

all of their words and their actions will probably be pushing toward that, and we should be aware of that and guard against it because for the rest of us who live in the real world, we saw what happened on january 6th. we see the charges. hundreds of people charged with violent offenses. that is the truth. those are the facts. and even a congress who might attempt to try to put out some kind of statement that says this was a powerful day, that's not going to change what we all know happened. >> allison, you talked about the democrats and republicans kind of living in two differ worlds or realities when it comes to january 6th. >> yeah, well, i remember, i was working on the biden transition that day. we were preparing to roll out the secretary of education, earlier that morning, people in the democratic party were celebrating because we had won georgia. for the first time, there was so much happening in our democracy that made democrats on that day proud until what happened on the ellipse. and then on to the capitol. it also is a reminder, donald trump won the

election. he's going to be inaugurated on the 20th. and there is still half of this country that did not want him to be elected. he chose on this day four years ago to show a picture, the pretext to january 6th, of him convening people. there was an opportunity yet again for him to be a leader today and say, let's -- that was a bad day in our history, and take some ownership. but there's not. so i think it is the responsibility of all of us sitting here at the table not to forget, not to let our children forget, not so we can remain a divided country but so that we can try and work to something like this never happen again. >> yeah, i think it will be remembered. but i don't think it's going to be remembered singularly. i think it's going to be remembered in the context of the last eight years. four years of trump, four years of biden. i mean, the fact is it happened. it was a terrible day. violence, political violence should never be condoned. then we live through four

years of biden's presidency, and the american people went scrambling back to donald trump. they chose to analyze two presidencies which included one day and a whole bunch of other policy decisions and went back to trump. the other thing about this day and about this election that i think is noteworthy and positive is this. it's not been since 1988 that democrats have not challenged a republican win on the floor of the house when trying to count the vote. i have never had an election in my adult professional career in which both sides basically accepted it without too much grumbling. obviously, '00 and '04, democrats didn't accept bush. there were republicans who didn't accept obama. we know what happened in 2020. this time around, it seems most people have accepted the results of the election. also, the electoral reform act passed in 2022, rifying the vice president only

has ministerial duty, it feels like we have gotten off the slippery slope of one side or the other not accepting the election. i think that's a good thing. >> sorry. >> i was just going to say, look, i get it. and i agree in the long run, i think the days of january 6th fights are probably going to be over. we did a great thing with the electeral count act reform, but we have to be very careful. we can't put democrats -- and i was against them doing it when they did it, obviously, against democrats opposing the election, we can't put that on the same level as what happened on january 6th. it's one thing for a few people to say we're going to vote against certification of this tion. once it hit critical mass in the democrats, i'm sure if it hit critical mass, the leadership would have come out and said we can't do that. instead, republican leadership shocked us all on january 1st on a phone call when he said he as well is going to object to the certification of this election. when he did that, that's when i predicted that day there would be violence on the 6th because you're convincing half the country an election was

stolen. by the way, if i believed an election was stolen, i would have been on the steps of the capitol that day because we're a country that believes we should have a voice heard. that's the danger of terrible leadership and convincing people of lies. >> we'll return to the spot where capitol security was breached to find a different scene and will there be unexpect objections as congress certified president trump's wins. stay with us.

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it is a winter wonderland here in washington, d.c. , as the united states gres prepares to certify the 2024 electoral vote count despite the severe wenter weather, four years after the proswas of course violently disrupted by the january 6th attack. donie o'sullivan is at the capitol security barrier for us, the same area where he was reported around this time four years ago. take us through that moment four years ago and contrast it with what you're seeing now. >> reporter: hey, jake. i was right about exactly right now actually this time four years ago that we made our way with trump supporters who had marched down pennsylvania avenue here, from the ellipse where donald trump was speaking at the time by the white house. and came down here to this intersection of third street and pennsylvania avenue. these gates were not here.

this barrier was not here. in fact, the supporters that we were walking along with made their way to what is ironically given what happened called the peace monument. and that is where trump supporters which turned into a violent mob, first pushed over the barricades that had been set up by police. by the way, the barricades at that point were nothing like this. they were the small barriers that come up to your waist that you see at a football game or a concert. it was in that moment when we heard the gates crashing. and we saw people moving on to the lawn that we knew something bad, something bad was happening and something terrible might occur. and of course, the rest is history. as for today, very different scene here. much bigger security presence, obviously, there is the capitol is a fortress today. and in terms of the history, in terms of our understanding

of what happened that day, you know, for a year or -- for a year, some time after, the capitol attack, people were somewhat sorry about it, but today, we're going to see demonstrators, january 6th supporters, actually march here on the capitol. wee not sure how big a crowd, calling for pardons for many of the convicted, and also too far from here, maga influencers, some of the people more on the extreme end of the spectrum, are holding an event calling for those pardons as well, which they're expecting to happen. >> thanks so much. let's go back dana also on capitol hill. >> joining me now here is congressman jason crow, democrat of colorado. on january 6th, 2021, he was trapped with other house members, and aides, and some police officers inside the chamber, as rioters broke in. you see a now famous unfortunately famous photo of

congressman crow then who was a former army retired army ranger, trying to help his colleagues as they took cover. as the rioters, the insurrectionists were breaking into the house chamber. thank you so much for being here. i just want to get your thoughts today, as you prepare to certify donald trump as president again. how that feels given what happened and the photo we just showed four years ago. >> there's a lot going through my mind. it's a somber day. this always will be a somber day for me and for a lot of my colleagues and for the police officers and others who went through the trauma of that day. first and foremost, my thought is with the police officers, both with the metro police officers and the u.s. capitol police officers, over 140 of whom were brutally beaten, brutally beaten. i mean, we get really close to those officers here. we see them every day.

they're at our checkpoints, we get to know them, their stories, their families. to see many of them who have had to leave service, who are permanently disabled, who have trauma, several of whom took their own lives because of the post traumatic stress and see where we are now, people trying to rewrite the history of that day, to see donald trump on the verge of entering office again is certainly tough. >> it's such an important point, i covered this building, this complex for a couple decades. some of those officers have been defending and protecting this complex longer than that, just coming here today, congressman, you could see this sort of complex look in their eyes. a determination, of course, to do their job. but some trauma that is real and is still there. because of what happened. >> how could there not be. i'm a combat veteran. i served in iraq and

afghanistan. you can't go through experiences where your life is threatened, where you don't know if you're going to make it out without that staying with you. that's not a normal human experience for folks. it always will be with you. that's why making sure that we tell the story of what happened, that we don't allow history to be rewritten for political purposes is really important for them. and for their families. and why we also make sure we stand by and we keep faith with them, that we make sure they have the health care, the mental health support services for them and their families that they deserve and earn is also important. >> let's look ahead, as i mentioned, you do have a constitutional duty that you and all of your colleagues are going to be performing in a couple hours. do you see any of your democratic colleagues challenging the results that will make officially make donald trump president again? >> no, i don't see that happening because we believe in rule of law. we believe in the constitution. and we believe in reality. and the truth.

and the truth is, donald trump won the election. it was a safe and secure election. as was the one before it. we are not going to overturn the constitution or attempt to overturn the constitution, like they did in 2020, 2021. to try to get the result we want. in america, we settle our political differences at the ballot box, not by violence. we will set that standard, we will maintain that standard. i don't like the results of that which means we have to go back, do a better job of making the case, a better job of earning people's support and keeping their support. that's what we're going to do. we are not going to cheat. we're not going to distort reality. we're not going to resort to things like stop the steal. those are theories not grounded in reality and they undermine the basis of our constitution, and we're not going to do it. democrats are here to uphold the constitution and to help us pursue that more perfect union. >> congressman, thank you so much for being here. i appreciate it. as we get closer to the main event on this january 6th,

we will look at vice president kamala harris' role in certifying president- elect donald trump's win and her defeat. she is on her way right here to the capitol. we'll talk about that after a quick break.

this announcement of the state of the vote by the president of the senate shall be deemed a sufficient declaration of the person's elected president and vice president

of the united states each for the term beginning on the 20th day of january 2021 and shall be entered together with a list of the votes on the journals of the senate and the house of representatives. may god bless our new president and our new vice president and may god bless the united states of america. >> remarkable moment from american history. that was 24 years ago today. vice president al gore overseeing the certification of his own defeat in the 2000 presidential election after the u.s. supreme court determined that george w. bush was the winner following the ill- fated florida recount. today, vice president kamala harris finds herself in a similarly uncomfortable position. cnn's mj lee is at the white house for us. what is the vice president's thinking about her role in this certification of president- elect trump's win over her? >> reporter: yeah, the vice president is making her way to capitol hill right now, and

i'm told, it's never been a question in the vice president's mind whether she was going to oversee congress certifying donald trump's victory, and of course, her loss. but there have been questions being asked around washington, d.c. , some people wondering is she in fact really going to do this as some people have thought back on the events of the last four years, the insurrection and donald trump refusing to accept the results of the previous election, and i'm told by one senior harris adviser that the vice president has almost been a little bit aghast to hear that those questions are even being asked, that she definitely sees this as an important duty and an obligation that she has as vice president to see this day through. even still, as you noted, jake, today is going to be sort of a painfully stark reminder for the vice president that she lost, and she lost decisively to donald trump. there are folks around her who say she does seem to be determined on finishing out

the business of vice president, but there is no question there are less pleasant things she has to finish out, like today, like sitting through inauguration. as for conversations about her future, those conversations have begun, but she's in no rush to come to any decision about what's next. that thinking and those deliberations really begin in earnest i'm told after january 20th. >> mj lee at the white house, thank you so much. and caitlyn, harris has described today as a sacred obligation. we have sound from her earlier today. let's run that. >> as we have seen our democracy can be fragile. and it is up to then each one of us to stand up for our most cherished principles. >> all right, it can't be easy to do this. >> i think obviously on a personal level, it's an unpleasant day to say the least, to oversee the certification. it was for al gore and richard nixon when they were up

there. so ultimately, the stakes here of looking at this and what she is going up there, because she doesn't have to go, as mj said, for her it was never a question of whether or not she was going to go and preside over the certification. but the moment in and of itself after the election and how she did talk about not as much as biden did in his race, but obviously, how she did talk about january 6th and democracy and what she believed was on the line. i was thinking of this, trump posted saying biden is doing everything possible to make the transition as difficult as possible. and he's referencing executive orders that biden is doing in his last few days when trump did as well when he was in office and the court cases against him, which are obviously not president biden's doing, but think about that. >> we know what as difficult as possible actually looks like. >> because we witnessed it. >> it's not a number of executive orders trump can undo on his first day. >> pressuring the doj, having your attorneys file dozens of lawsuits, calling governors, leaning on senators,

other congressional allies to sow doubt about the election. those are things president biden and vice president harris have not done. they instead have accepted the results and said, you know, this is how it's going to be. biden obviously hosted president-elect trump inside the oval office. it speaks to the moment that trump is being afforded that obviously he did not afford to them. >> and just to underline that point, in 2004, there were all sorts of conspiracy theories on the left, led by robert kennedy jr. for one, that ohio had been stolen. and against my better judgment, i went into a progressive social media site last night, and they're about this election too, that this was a hacked election. i mean, the difference is, of course, that kamala harris is not leading the charge in pushing forward these deranged conspiracy theories. >> she will ignore the fringe and conspiracy where donald trump has invited them from the

edge to the middle of his world. his orbit is full of people who peddle conspiracy theories. we're only going to see her once or twice in big roles before she's gone, before the trump team comes into washington. what next for kamala harris? if you talk to people in this town, most democrats say go away, if you want to run for governor of california, fine. please don't run for president again. i would remind you, on this day four years ago, everyone said donald trump was done. so discount her as a potential nominee four years from now or a player in that at your peril. she just won 75 million votes, 48.4% of the vote in dhuptry. she just raised a billion dollars. she's a black woman, popular with the foundational base of the democratic party. she has giant problems. she did not lurk to speak to working class americans about their disaffection with this tount. she's viewed as a coastal elite. she has problems. donald trump had more when he left four years ago. the question i have about

politicians, do they learn from their mistakes and their environment. she did not lose because of her mistakes. she had 100- plus days to do something people spend four, five, six, tep years preparing for. >> losing is not fun, and that's what is going, you know, she's going to certify today, but she's not alone. you made the point in al gore had to do it with a very bitter race, with george w. bush. and richard nixon lost to jfk. so she's not the first vice president to lose. i just look back at both nixon and al gore. they both got standing ovations at the end of the certification. i think it will be interesting to see what reaction she gets from the chamber. >> coming up inside the scramble to keep vice president mike pence safe from pro- trump rioters four years ago today,

his former chief of staff will join us to discuss january 6th then and january 6th today, plus the 2024 election certification begins, the process itself, just minute from now after this break. stay with us.

on snowy capitol hill, a joint session of gres is convening to count each state's votes and declare that donald trump is president-elect. we're waiting for senators to walk through statutory hall into the chamber so they can begin. it's getting under way just minutes from now. you see there, people in statuary hall assembled. back with the team here in new york.

president- elect donald trump entering the white house in just 14 days. a lot to get to ahead. abbey, just in terms of what we're going to see, this is probably something we hadn't -- wouldn't cover in decades past. >> yeah, or at least not cover in this way. i mean, typically, this is supposed to be ceremonial. and actually t is a celebration of what america is supposed to do, which is transfer power from one president to another. the congress meets in a bipartisan fashion. they count up the votes, they certify what the states have done in a decentralized way, and they do it without, you know, we're not supposed to -- >> what you're seeing is four senate pages carrying two boxes containing the certificates of vos from the states. they're followed by the vice president, senate proletarian, the senate

tellers, senators deb fischer and amy klobuchar as well. >> this should be honestly a good moment for the country. i think it is today. it is today like it has been actually every other time except for four years ago. because people in general in this country have a tradition of putting the nation first. putting the history and the traditions that people have fought for first, and that is exactly what we're witnessing today. i think it's a good moment. >> senators walking in. congressman kinzinger. >> what's interesting, the mahogany box, i wanted to point out, there was a period when somebody on the floor of the senate said we have to take those as we evacuated the senate floor. there was one person who still doesn't want to be identified made that decision and took it. you realize had the maraudered made the decision to open the box and tear up the ballots, there is no provision

to allow any counting of vote if it wasn't the original ballots. it doesn't low you to look and say, well, "the new york times" said that biden won new york, so just count that. so it could have been a constitutional crisis. you know, today is a good day. my hope is january 6th from here out will remember what happened four years ago as a bad point in history but we can move on. that will be up to donald trump. does he want to keep relitigating january 6th? it appears he does. >> to abby's point, this was supposed to be a pro forma session. largely ceremonial. i remember after donald trump lost, the initial thought with mike pence's team is you're going to go to capitol hill, do what vice presidents before you did. al gore certified the election after he had lost. kamala harris will do the same today. and of course, that's not what the events were that unfolded. but i think it's a reminder of kind of the political moment that i think all polling shows that most americans thought it was a bad day. it wasn't a good day. it was perhaps un- american,

but there were issues that weighed higher on american voter' minds. as somebody who this was a deal breaker for me, i spoke out against it, i testified to the committee and department of justice. it's a fact that more americans were voting on the cost of living, on border security, and issues that deeply affected them personally. >> there's senator vance, vice president- elect jd vance. >> i agree with alyssa. i think the voters got to make their decision, and they voted beyond just january 6th. to your point, congressman, i think the question is, though, is what does donald trump do? he made a lot of promises to the american people. will he be able to keep the promises that he made about bringing the cost of living down? when he is solely focused on doing it fighting, you know, a battle about four years ago, whether or not he won the election or not. does he actually want to bring this country together and say, again, this was a bad day, we should unify, we should look

at how we make america stronger, but that doesn't seem to be the signaling of the party. there seems to be no remorse today. there seems to be business as usual, and i think that's the question, can he deliver for the american people if he's always thinking about himself? >> let's go back to jake in d.c. >> thank you so much, and we see vice president harris there in her ceremonial role as president of the senate. he will oversee. she's there with the newly re- elected speaker of the house, mike johnson. there were, of course, many deeply disturbing moments when the capitol was attacked four years ago. this one among the most chilling. we're supposed to show a scene there of vice president mike pence's life threatened by supporters of his boss, then- president trump. but that did not come up for some reason. we all remember it. we're joined by the former chief of staff for vice

president pence, marc short. he also served as the trump administration's director of affairs. he's president affa board calling advancing american freedom markets. about this time on january 6th, donald trump was telling his supporters to march to the capitol. you have to fight to save your country. 90 minutes later, rioters were inside the building, secret service agents were evacuated vice president pence and his family to a loading dock under the capitol. how worried were you about vice president pence's safety, the safety of his family, and what is it like seeing president trump, his election being certified four years later? >> thanks for having me. about this time four years ago, as you said, there was a lot of noise outside the capitol, but i don't think anybody was anticipating the riots that would occur. when the secret service first evacuated, took him off the senate floor to his ceremonial office, which is right off the senate floor in the capitol, and he stayed there for a while. and there were efforts by

the secret service at the time to evacuate him, and he was clear to say, i'm not going to leave the capitol. but at some point, the lead secret service ageabout came to us and said, look, that's a glass door. we can't protect you here any longer. we need to move out of this location. that's when they took us down to the loading dock underneath the capitol and we remained there. >> were you aware at the time of the chants of "hang mike pence"? is that something you knew about? >> no, honestly not. we could hear chants, but there was nothing that was really drawing our attention to the specific hang mike pence until later we saw documentaries and coverage of it. i think in those days, there was a lot of commotion, a lot that had to happen. i think that the vice president was quick once we had been taken to the basement to call mccarthy, to call mcconnell, call pelosi, and schumer, make sure we were all committed to getting back in and completing the business of the american people. then there were called to general milley and others about securing the capitol.

and the capitol police. there wasn't a lot of time for reflection. there was a job to do. >> right now you're looking at images from the floor of the house of representatives. members of the house and senate are gathering in what is their -- and there is the speaker, mike johnson, and vice president kamala harris. it's obviously a bipartisan or even nonpartisan event, where the leaders of this country come together to count the electoral votes. there's ted cruz, senator from texas, who was one of the main individuals who helped cause what happened four years ago by putting forward the falsehood that the vice president could somehow do something to stop the electoral count. there's democratic leader hakeem jeffries with katherine clark, his number two. what are your thoughts as you watch this in action? >> ted cruz obviously was the

first senator to object, and obvious lay, just looking back on this, what the vice president maintained at the time, as marc knows well, is he did not have the power to block the certification on this day four years ago. >> and he didn't. >> what we have seen is the electoral count act that was passed reaffirming that interpretation of the law so people like john eastman who pence later referred to as a crackpot of attorneys, that trump was listening to at the time, could not make that argument. but also it changed the threshold for how many people have to object to lead to that moment. even if we were in the exact same situation as four years ago, had this law been passed, the threshold would have had to have been much higher than what it was four years ago for that to happen. >> marc short, are you able to look at ted cruz without thinking about january 6th? >> sure. jake, because honestly, i think what ted cruz is doing was advocating, i may not agree there was evident of any sort of theft in that election, but it is their right to raise an

objection. that's different than coming forth with the suggestion the vice president has this unilateral authority to reject certificates. so even though they passed the new legislation in 2022, i think the vice president's role has been black and white clear for 250 years of our republic. so i don't think there's really that much question of what the vice president's role was on that day, and that's the same role vice presidents have executed since the beginning of our republic. >> can you imagine, by the way, for people who aren't young enough -- old enough to remember, in 2001, we showed the images of al gore. that was a very close election. came down to one state. 537 votes. george w. bush won, i'm not suggesting anything other than george w. bush won, but there were a lot of people who wondered about what happened in florida and the counting of the ballots and on and on. if vice president gore had done what republicans wanted vice president pence to do, it would have caused complete and utter chaos. it would have been a constitutional crisis, and he did not do it. >> one of the points that vice president pence made is those who are advocating

this extraordinary authority belongs to the vice president are not going to allow that authority to be bestowed on kamala harris four years from now. it was illogical to suggest you can reject what states decided and empower one person to decide which electors he's going to accept and reject. that's the politics and principle you're seeing on the floor. adam kinzinger isn't there anymore because he's homeless in his own party. >> cancel culture. >> mike pence, a prominent conservative in the house of representatives, then a governor in a midwestern state, you can disagree with his politics, but a proud christian, mainstream chamber of commerce conservative. is home in indiana today because he's homealize in his own party because of donald trump's takeover. >> more than homeless, he's not the vice president to donald trump. this time around. you know, marc, just to go back to four years ago. vice president pence would

not get in the car. he's quoted in saying i'm not getting in the car. i trust you, tim. that was the head of his secret service detail, but you're not driving the car. if i get in that vehicle, you guys are taking off. i'm not getting in the car. you know, we have talked about this over the years. and you have said that he didn't want the image of the detail going, but also -- >> there's the vice president- elect, by the way, jd vance. sorry. >> but in talking to secret service sources, i was told, look, he didn't want to go back to the white house. that wouldn't have been a good place. and he was concerned that they wouldn't bring him back to the capitol. >> i think that's fair. i think that tim was a great secret service lead, but as you said, mike looked at it and said, look, you're not driving the car. if i get in the car, you can take off. they were clear to say their job was to protect the principal. they had a pathway out and they wanted to go, but i think as

you said, the vice president felt like, look, that would be a terrible image for the world to see, to see a 15- car motorcade fleeing the capitol. he was determined to stay there. i think there was a lot to do about a commitment to get back in that night. initially, capitol police told us it would be days. they said we can't confirm there weren't devices left behind. it's going to take us days to clear out the capitol. pence was committed to saying we're going to get back in tonight. >> have you talked to pence in the last few days? how is rereflecting on a day like today? >> i think he looks back on it and hopes that today is a day that we can look at, and history will begin to say it was a triumph that our system worked. there's so much focused -- >> only because of people like him. there are now people in his place that have said they will not do what he did. >> i appreciate that, but i think fortunately, there are a lot of checks and balances in our system. i think they carried the day that day. i think there are enough people who still have principle. >> let's listen in

to vice president harris calling for order. >> pursuant to the constitution and laws of the united states, the senate and house of representatives are meeting in joint session to verify the certificates and count the votes of the electors of the several states for president and vice president of the united states. after ascertainment has been had, that the certificates are authentic and correct in form, the tellers will count and make a list of the votes cast by the electors of the several states. the tellers on the part of the two houses will take their places at the clerk's desk. >> so vice president harris has

just directed the tellers to take their places at the desk in front of the speaker's podium. let's check in with dana bash on capitol hill. >> reporter: you know, i just think it's so important to reflect on what we are seeing right now. we talked at the beginning about this complex being tified despite the fact this is peaceful. >> without objection, the tellers will dispense with reading formal portions of the certificates after ascertaining that the certificates are regular in form and authentic, the tellers will announce the votes cast by the electors for each state beginning with alabama. >> senator fisher. >> the certificate of

the electoral vote of the state of alabama seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears there from that donald j. trump of the state of florida received nine votes for president, and jd vance of the state of ohio received nine votes for vice president. >> madam president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of alaska seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears donald j. trump of the state of florida received three votes for president and jd vance of the state of ohio received three votes for vice president. >> madam president,

the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of arizona seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears therefrom donald j. trump received 11 votes for president and jd vance from the state of ohio received 11 votes for vice president. >> madam president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of arkansas seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears therefrom that donald j. trump of the state of florida received six votes for president and jd vance of the state of ohio received six votes for vice president. >> madam president, the certificate of the --

>> what's happening right now, the tellers alternate reporting on the authenticity and the property form of each of the certificates and the number of votes designated for president and vice president, and then each teller records the results on a paper tally sheet. and at the end of that reading, all results from all 50 states and d.c. , the tellers then compare the results on their tally sheets and all sign all four tally sheets. then the vice president announces the result totals and announced the president and vice president. they're going to be reading through each 50 states and the district of columbia. we'll continue to monitor that and continue with the proceedings. dana bash, you were talking from your vantage point on capitol hill. >> reporter: yeah, anderson, i was just talking about this scene which is, of course, part of the constitution. and it is, of course, something that we have seen for

the most part at least in over 100, maybe 150 years, work without much disruption until four years ago. but the reality is how it feels up on capitol hill is that there is this tremendous security this year because of four years ago. this place is fortified. and yet, it is fortified despite the fact that a lot of the people who supported the insurrection that happened four years ago are now in charge. not just in congress and the senate and the house, but of course, coming back to the white house. and they are in charge because the voters are putting them there. and i think that that is such a -- we have been talking about the contrast all morning and four years ago and what we're seeing now, but it's also a contrast in what people like kamala harris who is standing there as we speak

certifying her loss in the 2024 election, argued to the voters, the voters heard her. the voters heard joe biden before her about how dangerous donald trump was to democracy, about what happened in this building four years ago. and they made a decision to put him back in the white house and to put republicans back in sweeping control of congress. i don't -- i think it's important not to lose sight of that dynamic as we speak. >> scott? >> i think what dana just said is so important. in light of all the rhetoric and things we're going to hear people say today is ultimately, it was the american people who got to decide ultimately how we feel collectively as a country about january 6th. and already today, we have heard some people in other venues say extraordinarily unhinged and vile things

comparing january 6th to the holocaust, to slavery, to world war ii. i think we need to arrange our feelings and control ourselves accordingly here, and not go off the deep end. it was not a good day. political violence cannot be condoned, but we can also be measured in how we view it in light of the rest of american and world history. what's happening today is ultimately a good thing because both parties for the first time in my adult life are accepting the results of an election. that is ultimately putting this country on the right track. i think people ought to really take stock of our feelings and not get out over our skis too much today and minimizing other world events and comparing them to january 6th. >> just a quick point. both parties have always accepted the presidential election until one -- >> false. >> four years ago. >> they have not. >> members of some of the democratic party, yes, i agree with that, but saying the

party. i have never seen the speaker or the leaders of the democrats object to a presidential election. there is a massive difference, and don't try to put these on the same thing. i agree they shouldn't have done it, but to say -- >> you admit they objected. >> i think, though, this is why we are where we are in this country. i think we're drawing false parallels to things that are happening in history. look, in 2000, that was the first election, i was in ohio, the ground zero of people questioning. it was the first election i ever got to vote in. i was greatly disappointed and i thought what happened in florida with hanging chads was wrong. but i didn't storm the capitol. because i was an adult that accepted the results of the election and the will of the people, whether i thought that some things had gone a little awry. that's not what happened on january 6th. and i don't think it's fair to draw the parallels that it was. i also think that showing this is really important. i used to be a former school teacher. and i think that we're in a moment right now in our country where information is

being disseminated in ways where we do sometimes draw false parallels. showing what actually happens, showing the checks and balances and explaining why january 6th is not the same as when other times in history people have asked questions about the election is really important for this upcoming generation that may have questions about the fragility of our democracy. >> let's listen in. >> jd vance of the state of ohio received six votes for vice president. >> madam president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the commonwealth of kentucky seems to be regular in form and authentic and appears donald j. trump from the state of florida received eight votes for president and jd vance from the state of ohio received eight votes for vice president.

>> madam president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of louisiana seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears therefrom that donald j. trump of the state of florida received eight votes for president and jd vance of the state of ohio received eight votes for vice president. >> madam president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of maine seems to be regular in form and authentic and appears therefrom kamala harris from the state of california received three votes for president and donald j. trump from the state of florida received one vote for president, and tim walz from the state of minnesota received three votes for vice president and jd vance of the state of ohio received one vote for vice president.

>> madam president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of maryland seems to be regular in form and authentic, and it appears therefrom that kamala d. harris of the state of california received ten votes for president and tim walz of the state of minnesota received ten votes for vice president. >> madam president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the commonwealth of massachusetts seems to be regular in form and authentic and appears therefrom that kamala d. harris of the state of california received 11 votes for president and tim walz of the state of minnesota received 11 votes for vice president. >> madam president, the certificate of the

electoral vote of the state of michigan seems to be regular in form and authentic and appears therefrom that donald j. trump of the state of florida received 15 votes for president and jd vance of the state of ohio received 15 votes for vice president. >> madam president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of minnesota seems to be regular in form and authentic and appears therefrom kamala d. harris of the state of california received ten votes for president and tim walz of the state of minnesota received ten votes for vice president. >> madam president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of mississippi seems to be regular

in form and authentic and it appears therefrom that donald j. trump of the state of florida received six votes for president and jd vance of the state of ohio received six votes for vice president. >> madam president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of missouri seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears therefrom that donald j. trump of the state of florida received ten votes for president and jd vance of the state of ohio received ten votes for vice president. >> madam president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of montana seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears therefrom that donald j. trump of the state of florida received four votes for president and jd vance of the state of

ohio received four votes for vice president. >> madam president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of nebraska seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears therefrom that donald j. trump of the state of florida received four votes for president and kamala d. harris of the state of california received one vote for president. and jd vance of the state of ohio received four votes for vice president, and tim walz of the state of minnesota received one vote for vice president.

>> madam president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of nevada seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears therefrom that donald j. trump of the state of florida received six votes for president and jd vance of the state of ohio received six votes for vice president. >> madam president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of new hampshire seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears therefrom that kamala d. harris of the state of california received four votes for president and tim walz of the state of minnesota received four votes for vice president. >> madam president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of new jersey seems to be regular in form and

authentic and it appears therefrom that kamala d. harris received 14 votes for president and tim walz of the state of minnesota received 14 votes for vice president. >> madam president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of new mexico seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears therefrom that kamala d. harris of the state of california received five votes for president and tim walz of the state of minnesota received five votes for vice president. >> madam president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of new york seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears therefrom that kamala d. harris of the state of california received 28 votes for president, tim walz of the state of minnesota received 28 votes

for vice president. >> madam president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of north carolina seems to be regular in form and authentic, and it appears therefrom that donald j. trump of the state of florida received 16 votes for president and jd vance of the state of ohio received 16 votes for vice president. >> madam president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of north dakota seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears therefrom that donald j. trump of the state of florida received three votes for president and jd vance of the state of ohio received three votes for vice president.

>> madam president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of ohio seems to be regular in form and authentic, and it appears therefrom that donald j. trump of the state of florida received 17 votes for president and jd vance of the state of ohio received 17 votes for vice president. >> madam president -- >> results from ohio there, obviously, that state for jd vance. back with the team here in new york, as we continue to watch what is going on to the counting of the ballot from each of the states. congressman, you were there four years ago. is it odd watching this? >> it is. the funny thing is we were talking off line, i was

present for '12, '16, and wft 20. usually, this is a nonevent. i mean, i would go. kind of show up. they open the session, half the time i would go back to my office because you don't need to be on the floor. this is over in an hour. this is how it should be. this is great it's happening this we. for me it's surreal because like my attention on what january 6th is, obviously, has been colored by what january 6th was four years ago. that i forgot how quick this actually happens and how really perfunctory it really is. this is a good thing today. again, the new incoming president will make the decision whether he wants to move on from january 6th or not. i'm fine whatever he decides. i think the country would be better off if he did, but yeah, it's good to see this happen today. >> do you think january 6th, i mean, years from now, is a date that will live in infamy to use a phrase used for other events. i'm not comparing it at all.

>> i think we live in split screen america. for some of the country it will. otherwise, it will fall to the history books. the reality is this, most of the country did care. it rubbed them the wrong way. they didn't like it. that showed up consistently in polling, but it didn't rank in the top issues at the end of the day. i think this was such an historic and wild election cycle and so many other dynamics entered the last four years that in many ways the events of january 6th were eclipsed. there's a certain privilege involved in saying i'm a voter against vix. that day crossed bountdryes for me. if you feel like the cost of living is too high, groceries cost tee much and you think donald trump is better on that, that's who you're going to vote for. we saw that. we all covered the republican national committee. that was the direction this was all going. then joe biden gets out of the race and owns up a complete new dynamic. it will honestly be for many people a footnote in the history books.

>> when you talk to voters, they do not like january 6th. they don't like trump's role in it. i don't think that the fact that actually trump was re- elected and republicans were held on to power in the house and gained power in the senate, i don't think that diminished what happened and how terrible that day was at all. but this country also has a long history of frankly anti- incumbency being driven by economic forces. that's exactly what this last election was. americans voted for the other party. to be in power because of their dissatisfaction with the status quo of their daily lives. that was a trend that happened here in the united states. it actually happened all over the world in this past year. and i don't think we should take that and say, well, they didn't care about january 6th. ask them. they did. the question is, the policy direction for the next four years, did they want it to be the democratic party or the republican party? i think they spoke pretty

loudly that they wanted it to be the republican party. >> i think abby is exactly right. it's possible for voters to take in lots of different information, whether it's about what they saw on january 6th or what they lived there for the next four years and synthesize all of that and make decisions. ultimately, the democrats put all of their eggs or most of their eggs in the january 6th basket and republicans put all their eggs into the future, that we can control the economy and get things back in order. >> i want to pint out that president-elect trump just went over the 270 votes needed to win. let's listen. >> -- received six votes for vice president. >> madam president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of vermont seems to be regular in form and authentic, and it appears therefrom that kamala d. harris of the state of california received three votes for president and tim walz of the state

of minnesota received three votes for vice president. >> madam president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the commonwealth of virginia seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears therefrom that kamala d. harris of the state of california received 13 votes for president and tim walz of the state of minnesota received 13 votes for vice president. >> madam president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of washington seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears therefrom that kamala d. harris of the state of california received 12 votes for president and tim walz of the state of minnesota received 12 votes for vice president.

>> madam president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of west virginia seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears therefrom that donald j. trump of the state of florida received four votes for president and jd vance of the state of ohio received four votes for vice president. >> madam president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the great state of wisconsin seems to be regular in form and authentic and it appears therefrom that trump of the state of florida received ten votes for president and jd vance of the state of ohio received ten votes for vice president. >> madam president, the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of wyoming seems to be regular in

form and authentic and it appears therefrom that donald j. trump of the state of florida received three votes for president and jd vance of the state of ohio received three votes for vice president. >> members of congress, the certificates having been read, the tellers will ascertain and deliver the result to the president of the senate. >> the undersigned deb fischer and abee klobuchar, tellers on the part of the senate, and brian steel and joseph morelli, tellers on the part of the house of representatives report the following as the result of the ascertainment and counting of the electoral vote for president and vice president of the united states. for the term beginning on

the 20th day of january, 2025. >> the state of the vote for the president of the united states as delivered to the president of the senate is as follows. the whole number of the electors appointed to vote for president of the united states is 538. within that whole number, the majority is 270. the votes for president of the united states are as follows. donald j. trump of the state of florida has received 312 votes. kamala d. harris -- [ cheers and applause ] kamala d. harris of the state of california has

received 226 votes. the whole number of electors appointed to vote for vice president of the united states is 538. within that whole number, a majority is 270. the votes for vice president of the united states are as follows. jd vance of the state of ohio has received 312 votes. tim walz of the state of minnesota has received 226 votes.

this announcement of the state of the vote by the president of the senate shall be deemed a sufficient declaration of the persons elected president and vice president of the united states. each for a term beginning on the 20th day of january 2025. and shall be entered together with the list of the votes on the journals of the house and the senate. thank you very much. >> all right, there it is, the final gavel coming down there, and donald trump has secured 312 electoral votes to vice president harris' 226. when she announced the winner, the republicans stood up and gave a standing ovation for

the victor, donald j. trump. let's listen in. >> resolution number two, 119th congress, the chair declares this joint session dissolved. thank you. >> the joint session has been dissolved. grace there by the vice president. that cannot be an easy thing to do. you put decades into a political career, and you get an opportunity to run for president. obviously, the circumstances were what they were. obviously, her campaign was what it was. but you have to stand there in front of the world and smile and pretend as though no big deal. no big deal. >> glad it's over. she maintained her cool throughout the whole thing. there's a phrase we heard over and over again, regular in form and authentic, as each state was called. and it just struck me because today was normal. it was the opposite of four years ago.

>> now the governing challenge, two weeks, the governing challenge begins for donald trump. already today, you're seeing a huge opportunity and huge risks and challenges he'll face as president. a very narrow majority in the house, and a very narrow majority in the senate and not 60 votes. you need 60 votes to get much done. they'll have 53. that's good, but it's not enough. so even today, he's trying to figure out how do you do immigration, tax cuts, spending cuts. so today is a day, as jamie said, normal. americans no matter how you voted, we should celebrate this january 6th looks nothing like the horrendous day four years ago. and now we move on to governing. president biden is going to try to use his last two weeks to shape his legacy. the vice president, grace is the right word, and poise. she has so many decisions to make about her own future. trump has no time. trump has to get to the business of governing. and it was the business of governing that undid him last

time. it was not the 5:00 a.m. tweets. it was his performance during covid. you have a unified republican party in part because they're afraid of trump, in part because many support trump. the people who didn't support trump are mostly gone. now they have to get about -- the private grumbling, everybody at the table hears about some of the cabinet picks goes back to what happened in covid, when donald trump was punished by the american people because they didn't believe he could properly run the government, use the tools and levers of the government during a pandemic. you have some republicans who are about to confirm most of his picks. those still on the table. privately wondering, is this person up to that job? is this person up to that job? because the majorities are so narrow, the next election is already under way. that would be the midterm election in two years. we're going to have special elections in virginia in a matter of days. so the next cycle begins immediately. for donald trump it's governing. for his party, which is almost universally loyal to him, is trying to figure out when

and where and if we push back a little. >> we know, to you, we know president trump wants -- president- elect trump wants to come out of the gate with immigration reform, not immigration reform, but shutting off the border. we know he wants to extend the trump tax cuts for everyone. and we know that he wants to do energy reform. he also would like it oto be in one big bill under reconciliation, a process by which the senate needs a simple majority vote, they don't need to meet the threshold of 60 votes, even to have a vote on the bill itself, which requires some bipartisan cooperation. he wants to jam it through as democrats have done in the past with their legislation. and he's going back and forth with speaker johnson, with republican senate leader john thune about what he can get and how he can do it. >> well, and when trump was saying it this morning in that interview with hugh hewitt, he didn't sound convinced on

really either strategy, in terms of either doing one bill or doing it separately. that's because there is pretty big division inside his own advisers over what is the best strategy to pursue. there's a lot of people who want to put points on the board and get something on immigration done pretty quickly, as he gets in, because they know from last time, governing gets harder the longer it goes on. maybe they have about two years here, and they know the tax fight is also going to be a pretty big one. trump himself says he doesn't see how democrats are going to fight against renewing that, but we'll see what that looks like. you have seen the division, and i was thinking about that watching senator john thune on the floor because he's going to be in the middle of navigating this with speaker mike johnson and president- elect trump. they have been in the middle of disagreeing whether this should be one bill. john thune said we can't do this process all that often. so that's something to be looking for. the other thing that i was thinking about as trump is taking office on day one, we know he wants to pardon

the january 6th rioters very quickly. >> not necessarily all of them but at least some of them. >> i would say probably most of them based on what i heard. there are some people saying do it on a case-by- case basis. trump has a lot of maga supporters who have said you should do pretty much all of them except the most violent and serious ones. the other thing i think is important to watch is the d.c. u.s. attorney's office. what happens there? because trump's world has argued they were too aggressive in prosecuting and charging a lot of these people. a lot of them pled guilty, i'll note, but they were too aggressive in that and we should expect big changes in the office, whether it's firings or people leaving because they anticipate being fired. that's also something important to watch in terms of what that looks like. >> trump made it clear that he wanted to do it. there was no question about it. he would start rallies with a rendition of a song as sung by these -- some of these prisoners behind bars. and so while i do think it

will be a shock to the system for millions of americans, they voted for him. a majority or at least a plurality of the american people. >> to caitlyn's point about some of these january 6th cases, i believe the d.c. u.s. attorney has already announced he's stepping down. u.s. attorneys do get replaced from administration to administration. but you're also -- we're hearing about, let's call it a brain drain from the justice department and other departments, very senior people, people who could have made a lot of money in the private sector, who dedicated themselves to government service, who are leaving before january 20th because they don't want to be part of this administration, or think they're going to get fired. one other point before we even get to january 20th, john, you mentioned cabinet appointees. i have spoken to sources on both sides of the aisle who believe that, and let's wait and

see, that there are a group of six or seven republican senators who have talked about, let's say, mixing and matching, opposing some of these cabinet appointees that they think are either not qualified or worse than that. >> so right now you're looking on the floor of the house, the vice president- elect jd vance, former senator of ohio, is posing for pictures and selfies with a lot of house republicans. some of them are freshmen, some of them, this really has the feeling of a very exciting moment for a lot of them. dana bash, this is as of today i think it's fair to say donald trump's washington. how much power does he wield? >> reporter: that is the question. on paper, when you look at the numbers, total power. when it comes to actually getting what he is

promising to do done, we don't know the answer to that. you're looking at these pictures of jd vance, his soon-to- be vice president still a united states senator, and he is sitting and standing in the chamber and among members who will help answer that question, jake. because what you mentioned this a little earlier with caitlyn, what the president- elect now says he wants to do with the help of the house speaker and of course the senate majority leader, john thune, is going to be herculean. he wants to try to push through pretty much everything he promised, from immigration to tax cuts in one fell swoop. and i will tell you that the speaker, my understanding is that his perspective is that doing it that way will make it easier because you can give

different people different pieces of what they want to make it harder for them to vote no. at the same time, that is precisely the kind of maybe typical washington process that some of those who voted against mike johnson last week initially said that they don't want to partake in. that's just one example, anderson, as i toss it back to you, of the challenge that donald trump is going to have. every president has a honeymoon. and every president has some political capital. he's already started to spend it, even in getting mike johnson re- elected as speaker. when it comes to the actual substance and policies of what he's going to, do he's going to have to be willing to spend a lot more. >> especially with a number of the nominees that he has put forward. dana, thanks very much. i want to check in with jeff zeleny in west potch beam. do we know what the

president was doing when the certification was going on? >> reporter: we're told that president- elect donald trump has been keeping an eye on this. obviously, waiting for that formal certification of his 312 electoral votes. but he also hashas been of sending out a variety of other messages, including we have been taking note of his posts on truth social. he was railing on president joe biden and his team in his words for making it difficult through the transition. he said he has made it very difficult. they're putting up road blocks in their way. also talking about the news in canada of justin trudeau stepping down as party leader. it raises a point here with republicans poised to be completely in charge of government, they already are of the house and the senate, and in two weeks' time will be in charge of the white house. the time for the democratic foils here for president- elect donald trump are escaping. talking about joe biden and

how he has been sort of difficult here. it is a reminder that the democratic foils that donald trump has long sought out and talked about are going to be not necessarily as relevant. he's in charge of government. republicans are fully and squarely in charge of government here so it will be fascinating to watch. i'm sure he will still try to find some foils to blame, but soon this government will be all his and all his party's. but this morning at least, on truth social, he's been focusing on anything but that. but tomorrow, we believe, he will speak more fully here from mar-a-lago. anderson. >> jeff, thanks very much. back with the panel here. congressman kinzinger, how do you think in terms of the nominees that trump has put forward, how many do you think he's actually going to get? secretary of defense, kash patel at fbi? >> obviously most of them. i think there may be one or two that the senate kind of stands

up on. we're not going to be able to see that probably until the actual hearings happen because i think senators are smart to not say anything. you don't want to highlight if you're going to oppose somebody. i think the ones that are probably in the most danger, pete hegseth, tulsi gabbard, and then kash patel. and so, it takes, what, i guess three or four republicans -- i guess four republicans that go no to block it. i would put rfk in that except that there's reporting out that there may be one or two democrats looking to support rfk. that would mean he would probably get in because i would have a hard time seeing six or seven republicans in opposition. i would be very surprised if you didn't see the republican senate at least, maybe not as a collective decision, but at least reject one of those nominees to show they still got it, if you will. >> alyssa, you think -- >> i think there's a small appetite among republicans to block any of trump's nominees but i think it will be in the national security realm, coming off the terrorist attack in new orleans and the cybertruck explosion in los angeles. i think there will be

renewed scrutiny on pete hegseth and if he's qualified enough to lead the department of defense. there was sort of an urgency from some senate republicans who are trump loyalists who say this means we need to confirm quicker. we live in a deeply troubled world that is very dangerous and we need credentialed, qualified people. everything is in motion for these confirmation hearings. so i think there will be new information, but to adam's point, people are not going to signal to donald trump they're stepping out in front of him. >> i was just going to say, look, this is going to be one of the things they have to do while they're also trying to pass an actual agenda. i don't think there's going to be a huge appetite as everyone has been saying to pitch a lot of fights. so it's going to be one or two at the most that will get the bulk of the scrutiny because what they want to do on the policy side of things is incredibly ambitious and will be incredibly difficult and will take time from both the

senate and the house. they have to get to that pretty quickly. >> i think there will be some republican defections, to adam's point. he can afford up to four if you don't get any democrats for several of these nominees. i think you'll see some defections. the question is does it go over the threshold or not? >> anyone in particular? >> i think several of them. you will see some republican defections. i'm not predicting they will be defeated but it's possible you'll see a handful of republicans make arguments like i don't think this person is qualified or i think this person's resume doesn't prepare them for this particular job. >> are you talking about patel, hegseth? >> could be numerous. in that regard, hearings dont really fix that. a hearing doesn't really fix your resume, it doesn't fix your experience. what a hearing could fix, say for rfk, is to give him a chance under oath to clarify some of the things he said in the past. there are some things you can fix in a hearing. what you can't fix is

the qualifications that you bring in to the job. i for one think the president deserves to get his cabinet. and hope that these people are confirmed. i don't actually -- >> all of them? >> yeah, i would vote for the president's cabinet. i think they all deserve a chance to serve. i do think they are nontraditional picks, but to be honest, i'm interpreting the election results as the american people want nontraditional shakeup of government, and that's what trump is trying to deliver. that's my personal opinion. i think some republicans may arrive at a different one. >> i think that the hearings actually will be must- watch television because of some of the statements that some of his nominees have made from rfk to hegseth to tulsi gabbard. he probably will get the majority of his picks. he has the senate. and i am curious, though, as to what happens after the cabinet is confirmed, because he's talking about doing this massive bill, the margins in the househouse and the senate are so

slim, which some would argue is not an actual mandate to do some of this large governing he's trying to do, and that's when the real test of who is this republican party that seems to be donald trump's party, what is going to happen, and will the american people start to lose faith in his administration? can he get things across the finish line as he has promised? >> let's not forget that a lot of what he's talking about on the border and on taxes, this is stuff that's going to cost money. so we're actually talking about some of the more difficult parts of this because republicans are getting ready to put in an agenda that's going to be hugely expensive. it's a question of whether it will be paid for at all. if it is, how? and if that's going to come with cuts. we're in for another couple of months of potentially some pretty big legislative fights even within the republican party. i don't think that there's going to be a lot of appetite

for huge fights over all of these people. i think even tulsi gabbard, i could easily see some republicans saying this is a person who is serving inside the white house. let the president have who he wants. on dod, that might be something different, on doj, that might be something different. they have to dispense with this pretty quickly. >> i think the one thing about having trump as the president while these policy fights are emerging is he has already shown he can rein in most of thee people, at least in the house. the people who were raising some hell about mike johnson, you know, he got all but one back onboard in relatively short order. if that's the kind of influence he's able to exert on the coming confirmation or policy fights over the next few weeks that will bode well for the leadership in both chambers in their efforts to do what you said, get this agenda. >> i'm not so sure about the senate. >> can i mention, donald trump is going to go in looking to do everything he can as much as he can by executive order. he's always been frustrated

by the slow way in which congress works. i would expect on day one some actions around border security that he does have the authority to do. that he had in place in the first term. he's going to look for ways to avoid long drawn- out fights. >> coming um, more on trump's grip on the congress who just certified him as president-elect. we're looking ahead at the administration that kicks off 14 days from now. democratic senator adam schiff is standing by.

in the snow-covered u.s.

capitol congress has signed , sealed, delivered president j trump's presidential victory a bit ago setting the stage for his return to the white house a few weeks now and we saw the democratic process upended on january 64 years ago upheld the day as it is supposed to be in the u.s. senators you see with the electoral votes in a joint session of congress on the floor of the u.s. house of representatives. vice president harris presiding over the certification of the election. she lost and both democrats and republicans recognizing the legitimate results something trump and his supporters refused to do in 2021. let's go to capitol hill and what is happening on the hill now that the certification is over? >> reporter: there are some meetings of the vice president and the vice president meeting

with hakeem jeffries and we will see if she has remarks to the press and when she walked in to preside she didn't answer any reporters questions and has not said a lot since her loss and we will see if she has something to say or walks through those public always. i counted the numbers and in the aftermath of what happened today so a lot of republicans and democrats have fresh memories of what happened four years ago but a lot of republicans are indicating that they don't want to remember for detail how they felt about the events and the new senate majority and i asked about how they reflect about whether they agree with the assessment it's a day of love and i have said what i said about that day and i want to move forward which is the sentiment of the republicans on the capital and they don't want to talk about what happened four years ago

and they realize both sides were happy with the return of normalcy from these proceedings that happened and they haven't up until what happened four years ago but we will see with the vice president has to say. and if they want to make any remarks it is happening right now. i am here with democrat adam shift and it was the select committee and i wanted to ask about the moment that you were a part of talking before coming on about the fact that you walked across the u.s. capitol and it was the first time you did that in a joint session. and and the very first time you were a lawmaker .

>> i sat on the house floor watching al gore in a dignified manner and that would essentially hand victory and watched kamala harris dignified employees and as it should've been and i could not help but four years later and since that attack look at parts of the floor and say that is where i was standing when the attack began that is when i heard people shouting in the gallery and got my gas mask and would later be trapped in the gallery and that is the exit we would have to flee out of and it brought back quite vividly the memories of that day. >> that was something that you and your colleagues spent time investigating. you filed a

detailed report and you and others including president biden campaigned and the threat that donald trump poses to democracy. and yet here you are coming from certified election and why don't you think the voters heated your call? >> it is remarkable that the same president who sat in the dining room as the mayhem was sitting there for hours refusing to lift a finger to end the violence and he will be back and they voted the economy which is the most important thing and their desire to help meet their mortgage payment,

paying rent and bringing the cost of food down. that really trumped everything else. it is not, i think, that voters were not concerned or didn't care about the democracy. they do, but they were talking about things they cared about more and making sure they could provide for their family was at the top of the list. >> let's talk about that. a big question for democrats and leading among them is how are you going to handle the trump years in the minority and as part of the opposition. what did you learn that would make you approach him and his presidency differently? >> i would say this. the problems that catapulted him back into office with the economy and frankly many of these problems go back years and even decades, the fact that

as these decades have progressed, people have been working harder and harder and finding it more and more difficult to get by and addressing that economic challenge the country faces have to be at the top of our agenda and these problems can't wait four years and we can't just say let's wait until he is out of office but we have to try to find ways to work together to attack the structural problems. >> you focus on these issues and investigations and questions about his conduct and so forth and you are focused and others were as well and that will be secondary? >> i think we hope for the best and keep a focus on getting positive affirmative things for the country but a lot will depend on how he chooses to govern and if he violates the law or the constitution or abuses's office we will vigorously fight back and stand up to him as we had to do during his first term in office. my priority is to try to get things done for my california constituents and

while they expect me to stand up to him when he attacks the constitution or their freedom. >> president biden is currently deliberating on whether to issue any preemptive pardons and you know that you are in the political crosshairs of donald trump and do you want any preemptive pardon from joe biden? >> i have been very public about my point of view, which is it would be the wrong precedent to set. i don't want to see any president hereafter on their way out the door giving a broad category of pardons to members of their administration. >> what if it is tailored for people like you and if he came to you and said, senator, do you want one? what would you say? >> and i am just speaking for myself but those of us that were on the january six

committee, and we were put in the crosshairs we are enormously proud of the work we did and stand by it. we feel we have the protection of the speech and debate clause. so my own feeling is, let's just avoid this broad precedent. >> i am asking we don't go down that road. i do realize that whether he sets that precedent or not, donald trump may very well issue blanket pardons out of the door so it may be for naught trying to avoid that precedent but i don't want to be the first to set it. i do understand and we are back in this conundrum again where democratic president can do things for a good reason or legitimate laudable reason. in this case that people are being threatened improperly by an incoming president, but then that president can be abused. that is the same conundrum we have faced during the entire trump years and facing again.

>> senator, thank you so much. appreciate it. back to you, jake. >> thank you. we are standing by for the expected remarks by vice president harris on the hill plus we will speak with two of the officers to wrist their lives defending the capital as it was under attack four years ago. we will be back any moment. >> he believed in himself at the youngest possible age. >> it's one of the most remarkable stories in sports history and i don't want to be remembered as just a basketball player.

we are expecting remarks

from vice president kamala harris before she leaves capitol hill. she obviously spent her day over seeing -- overseen certification of the presidential elect -- results and president trump is making plans to try to pass his aggressive maga agenda and let's take a moment to reflect on what we just heard from the news senator adam schiff and i was asking him if he wanted a preemptive pardon and he basically -- translate what he said . >> he basically said that he didn't think he needed it because of the speech and debate. >> to be clear this is about his participation in the january six committee hearing and absolutely nothing illegal he did. and yet donald trump

has said that everybody who is a member of the committee should be prosecuted. >> two things i thought were notable. one is you read between the lines of the way he said it. he didn't come out and say we did nothing wrong, absolutely not and we don't need a preemptive pardon but he also used the word conundrum and for several weeks we have been hearing and reporting that president biden and his aides have been thinking about a preemptive pardon for some of the members of the january six committee. what i heard today was somebody who was leaving the door open for that to happen. >> i have heard republicans accusing january six committee of being partisan even though there were two republicans, adam kinzinger in new york and liz cheney. even if you accepted that accusation on its

face which many people would not, the idea that a partisan hearing or committee would be illegal, that would be a road i would think the gym jordans of the world wouldn't want to travel down. >> there were a lot of roads they would travel down that we didn't think and one of the lessons of the trump age has been when you think something that they wouldn't do that hit the pause button. you are right. they are part of illegally constructed committee in the united states congress with constitutional authority to do what they did and i would say the bigger point to me is so donald trump doesn't like the members of the committee and mostly democrats and two very prominent and courageous republicans who blow up their political careers to be part of that committee knowing what trump would do but pick up the report and go to the index and look at the people who testified in the witnesses to the committee were all people who worked for donald trump except for a few of the

insurrectionists themselves and at one point trump supporters. it is a waste of time and energy and i am not a lawyer but all of the lawyers i've spoken to say there is no legal path for prosecuting these people, but it doesn't mean that it won't happen or there won't be pressure for it to happen from donald trump. but it does present the conundrum because it presents -- it is one of the many challenges of the democrats in joe biden as he leaves and how do we handle these things and who is our leader on which issues and when we speak up and we begin the whole chapter of how they handle this. >> that is why we saw such a fight for democrats and a lot of it is generational like house oversight because there are democrats who thought they

should handle this differently and what does this look like in round two and it's not responding to every truth social post or statement he made but following what is more serious. when we talked people like dan goldman who i interviewed a few weeks ago said the question is how do you walk that line and balance and what is it look like when he is in office this time around? >> it will be a challenge for house republicans especially some from congressional districts that in the past have been won by joe biden and here we have the congressman of new york, speak of the devil and good to see you. and by the way i don't even know the answer to this question but did harris win your congressional district or did trump? >> she did. kamala harris won my district by less than half a point by 2000 votes but four years ago joe biden got it by 10 point so it was a pretty dramatic shift over the last

four years one of only three republican held house seats that kamala harris won. so myself and he and another are the only majority in seats that she won. >> right outside of the city of philadelphia. let me ask you. we were talking about this whole debate about whether or not president biden should give, he and his aides and they are deciding whether to give a preemptive pardon to for instance members of the january six committee like liz cheney, adam kinzinger, et cetera because president elect trump is out there saying they should be prosecuted. what is your take on that specific debate? >> look. i think, obviously, the american people are not interested in going backwards. i think for us to waste time looking backwards with all that we have to do with this 119th

congress, really it would be a distraction from the task at hand and a pardon seems to be a little bit unnecessary but to me the focus has to be on the american people and the future and i have been very clear. i thought what happened on january six was wrong and never should have happened and i am glad today's events were rather -hum . and it went very smoothly. we did not have objections from anyone. in prior elections and not just 2020 but when donald trump won the first time we did see objections to certification by the democrats. so this has been a very unhelpful and unnecessary trend in our politics that thankfully didn't happen today, but i do think everybody needs to focus on the future and rehashing and relitigating what happened four

years ago or going after members of congress or former members of congress, i don't think is helpful to anyone and certainly not to the american people. >> let's look forward because president elect trump is talking about rolling all of his day one priorities which would be extending the trump tax cuts, energy reform and securing the border into one big reconciliation package and speaker johnson said he thinks it will be easier to pass. you agree or do you have any issues in what is and that legislation and what are your views? >> i do believe it would be easier to pass one build in multiple bills and i think when you start getting into multiple bills, it makes it harder to keep everybody unified. there are members who will be very very focused on the border and other members very focused on taxes. keeping everybody

together and getting everybody to acknowledge that they may not love everything in the bill but everybody has to vote to get the major things done. i think, obviously, the border package will be critical. energy production here in america, increasing domestic energy and as well as the tax bill. i have been clear that we need to lift the cap on that a top priority the state and local tax deduction as we work through the tax portion of the bill. so we will be going down to meet with president trump this coming weekend to discuss that. that is something that i am obviously very focused on. >> a simple yes or no speed around. should president biden preemptively pardon members of the january six committee? >> no. >> should donald trump pardon people who attacked the u.s. capitol on january six of 2021?

>> no . >> look at that. a politician with one word answers. thank you for joining us so much and congratulation on the 119th congress and looking forward to having you on. on this january six there's a question mark hanging over the criminal cases against the u.s. capitol rioters and let's bring in paula reid. were to these cases stand? >> as you know this prompted the largest prosecution the justice department has ever undertaken with nearly 1600 rioters charged and 1300 convicted and still about 300 cases pending but trump's return to power has left it in question , what happens going forward because he has signaled that he intends to pardon anybody who participated in january six. speaking with my sources i am told they want to do something quick and it should be broad. the former president has signaled he wants

to make exceptions for especially violent offenders but unclear how they would do that because even if they went by individual charges, many of them were charged with assault for a broad array of conduct and you also the leaders of far right groups who were convicted before directing violence and not participating in it but i am told there will be clemency and not any traditional individual application process like you usually see. it will happen likely on the first day but one person who won't need clemency is trump himself because his case has been dismissed by the special counsel because trump made it clear he would dismiss it once he got into office. >> joining us now two men who defended it four years ago the former police officer harry done and the former police sergeant. we appreciate your being with us on this day and you have risked your life defending the capital on this day four years ago. how are you feeling watching congress

certify him? >> thank you for having me. not just me but so many of the other police officers from the u.s. capitol and the metropolitan police and so many you just showed in your footage where there on january six of 2021 and it is ironic. i happened to think about what was said earlier about john soon wanting to move on and how everybody wants to move on. you know what ? we would love nothing more than a move on. donald trump appears not to want to do that. he brings it up every time he gets the opportunity and he talks about it. every time he talks about it or lies about it, we will be front and center pushing back against those lies but i would love to move on that doesn't happen without accountability and donald trump seems to escape that up to this point. >> can you tell us it is to: 24 p.m. and you remember what you are doing around this time four years ago? >> i was fighting for my life being crushed inside a tunnel.

it is outrageous that the person who claims is the law and order president the most supporter of all is the one that is about to pardon those people attacking the police officers at the capital. the irony is that the same people who were defending the capital against his mob are some of the ones who will be protecting him on january 20 when he gets sworn in again. at the end of the day he will get his chance to go to the u.s. capitol under different circumstances as compared to what he wanted to do january six. it is outrageous because these people were violent against officers like myself where we were willing to sacrifice our lives and that the desecration. >> you did write an op-ed in the new york times and said it's devastating to me to hear donald trump repeat is promise

to pardon insurrectionists and it would be a mistake and you could also put me in danger. if there are quick and blanket pardons or even selective pardons with a few people not pardoned, expand on what you wrote. >> some of these people claim to be supportive of the police and yet they are the same ones who put our lives at risk and these are the same ones that say you all let these people and even though they are the ones that are the officers. it doesn't give me solace that these people are vindictive just like the former president and i don't even know what to call him right now the former president or fellow president? president-elect? what is it? it is so frustrating to hear him

and his allies defending these people. at the end of the day, look, our families, we did our jobs in the officers did our jobs and we were simply doing our jobs and fulfilling what comes after, i don't think i need a preemptive pardon like the congressman was saying. we were doing our job and fulfilling our oath and if donald trump has an issue with that and/or his allies, then they are not the so-called party of law and order like they proclaim. >> as you know 150 officers were injured that day and an officer died and multiple strokes the following day and two other officers, one killed himself the days following as did another officer from the u.s. capitol police. do you worry that history will erase what happened four years ago? >> they will try. as you see, there are a lot of people willing to stand up and fight

for what is right and you talk about the adam kinzinger and liz cheney's of the world and the officers and myself who have constantly for four years and this is been four years in the making. we have been fighting this fight since january seven of 2021 and this is not anything new and we are not going away so as long as they are there pushing lies about it we will be out pushing back against that. i have to acknowledge like you said i talked to the mother of him this morning and she is heartbroken this isn't a political fiasco that got out of hand and real people's lives were affected and even the people who attacked the capitol and people who lost family members and people's real lives were affected because of this and it doesn't go away because the president, donald trump got elected again. >> former capital police officer harry done.

>> i am sorry. go ahead. >> those are the names that people need to remember and not the insurrectionists are people attacking the police officers. donald trump and his allies will do their best to make everybody else forget that people's lives were ruined and their livelihood was taken away. people lost their lives and they could never wash that away. sometimes we would retaliate to the point where even some of the benefits that we are entitled have been denied especially the ones in the department of justice were officers from january six were -- that program was changed specifically for officers and yet the person who has the final say is a political republican appointee that obviously doesn't believe that nothing wrong happened on

january six including multiple officers including myself who had been denied that benefit. unfortunately, a senator from maryland created a gofundme for myself and it led to that wrongful decision and i hope the audience can help me support my family in the meantime and thank you for your time. >> former police officer aquilino gonell and thank you both. what are the expectations that president-elect denied joe biden and he had the transition and where is the former presidents had at now as he prepares to take office? >> look. he continues to say he has a historic mandate. he doesn't have that. but he

certainly has a form of a mandate and he got the popular vote in the first republican to do so in 20 years. i think you will focus on a series of day one actions and we will see them seeking to essentially swamp the system for lack of a better way of putting it and you will see a lot of that on immigration and a lot of other campaign promises but the one that is unclear is what does trump do about these pardons that he said he was going to do or suggested he is likely to do for some of the people arrested in connection with the january six attack by a pro trump mob during the certification and it's one thing that people didn't vote and his lies about the election as their guidepost but different than testing the system in seem of people will tolerate and not a big appetite for that nationally so we will see what that looks like. >> he called them hostages repeatedly on the campaign trail playing records of them singing the national anthem and

how broad you think those pardons might be? >> i think there is a debate within trump's world about what exactly to do and to that pardon i think the point the officer was making is that trump ran as a pro law enforcement candidate that these were officers in a number of cases who were injured and officers who were guarding against trump supporters and this is a complicated bit of messaging and it will be interesting to see whom he decides if he does go ahead with what he wants to do and whom he decides is worthy of the clemency. >> thank you so much and i appreciate that and back over here in new york. should president biden issue pardons for the january six committee members including yourself? >> no. i don't want it. because the second a pardon is issued and i understand the theory behind it because donald

trump said he will go after everybody but it won't be for the january sixth investigation but what they will do his weapon eyes other investigations and look into everything and start an investigation that will force people to pay money and this happened to brad roethlisberger in georgia but as soon as you take a pardon looks like you are guilty of something and i am guilty of nothing except bringing the truth because he did absolutely nothing and he showed how weak and scared he was. i don't want the pardon. the bottom line is if he wants to bring up january six again we had this talk about how we move on. trust me, i would love to and my life has been defined by this for four years but if he wants to bring it back, i will happy to talk about the thing the committee did and learned and re-embarrass him. >> some people say you are fighting whatever may come your way could cost you and your family a lot of money. >> this happened with brad

roethlisberger and people would sue him and he had to defend himself and had to do that out of personal money. i have insurance for my time in office but you still have to defend yourself but the doj said we have to do this but three years later this is how they weapon eyes this and it won't be that they will come after you for actual january six investigation but the thing i take into account is i will use that as an opportunity to show the american people what the country shouldn't be ever be again and if that is a process to save democracy then i am happy to do that. >> there is an effort about intimidation and it's also to smear people and this is a fact when people's actions are misrepresented and things are called treasonous that are in line with the law and procedure. but to his point i have not heard anybody who said they would like a pardon because i don't think anyone believes they did anything wrong on that committee . what

stuns me is that donald trump won and you had mike johnson say they would investigate the committee and donald trump still talking about january six and the unwillingness to move on and take a beat from what was one of the darkest days in his first term and be forward-looking. there is so much congress can do that could be good for the american people and it is not investigating liz cheney and it's a waste of time and money and not what people elected him to do. >> it's an attempt to change the subject because part of the process of whitewashing january six and those events is trying to make this not about that but the people we are looking into. and also turning pretty routine conduct of the congress people and yourself included into something criminal is part of the plan designed to distract. i do think it probably will be enabled by senior people in the congress and we should probably just get used to it and it's the reality and trump in a way

, not only does he want to do that but i think his base gives them no choice. he ran on doing this. i think it is one of the reasons we can expect it. >> i actually inc. that is why the last time we talked about the nominees like kash patel. he isn't very clear that he wants to lead the charge with the fbi in doing some of these investigations but that could be one signal for the senate to say we don't want to go down that path but we want to push back on his nomination but, look, i will sound like a broken record. there is an opportunity here for donald trump and i don't agree with his policies and maybe what he puts forward in the tax bill or on immigration. but he could be a leader and earn some respect by acknowledging the mistakes of the past and saying we are moving forward. i am highly doubtful he will do that, but there is an opportunity because we are an extremely divided country and many americans didn't want him to be reelected because of january six. there is a chance and opportunity for him to govern

but i think you will be distracted by retribution. >> first of all, i think when he said in the past that retribution will be our success, i think that's the correct way to look at it. this is been a strange . because the events of january six, the investigations and legal actions after that and all the other investigations and ultimately the american people look at all of this on election day and make a decision. they did. if i were in his shoes, i wouldn't feel happy about everything that i had to live through and everything that happened on those fronts but i would feel extremely vindicated about what happened to me politically and moving forward the best possible vindication here for him as a president would be to pass the laws they said they would pass and fix the immigration system and get the economy under control for everyday people, unleash american energy and all of these things you ran on. if you

were able to do that, you would be remembered not just is the greatest comeback story of all time but is a really good president . i think there is a way to do all that while leaving the past in the past and accepting the vindication of the politics of election day. >> stay with us as we stand by for remarks by vice president harris on capitol hill and our coverage continues right after this.

thank you for joining us for our special live coverage from the nations capital where a short time ago congress certified the 2024 presidential election results and donald trump's victory in that race and this is a far cry from where we were on this day four years ago when a mob of maga supporters stormed the capital attempting to delay the certification process causing damage, death and a permanent stain on america's promise to always have a peaceful transfer of power. and now vice president harris fulfilled her duty by announcing the results in the halls of congress and she just spoke to cameras moments ago. listen to this. >> it was obviously a very important day. it was about what should be the norm and what the american people should

take for granted which is one of the most important pillars of our democracy is there will be a peaceful transfer of power. and today i did what i have done my entire career which is take seriously the oath i have taken many times to defend the constitution of the united states which included today performing my constitutional duties to ensure that the people of america and the voters of america will have their votes counted and that those votes matter and determine the outcome of an election and i do believe very strongly that america's democracy is only as strong as our willingness to fight for it. every single person and their willingness to fight for and respect the importance of our democracy. otherwise it is very fragile and they wouldn't be able to withstand moments of

crisis. today, america's democracy stood. >> let's go live to lauren fox on capitol hill. this is the first election certification since the capital was attacked and how to the proceedings play out? >> reporter: in many ways, this day was unremarkable. democrats said they worked really hard to make sure that was the way today's proceedings played out. obviously the shoe was on the other foot for democrats today than it was four years ago. instead of certifying the results of a presidential election were a democrat won, they were certifying the results were a republican won and not just any republican but donald trump who many democrats blame still on capitol hill for inciting rioters here four years ago. i talked to a lot of democrats today and after. i

will note that a lot of them we're -- were emotional about what happened four years ago. >> i am a keep calm carry-on guy, but that guy -- day was traumatic enough for those of us who like to keep calm and carry on it causes and upwelling of the motion. i can feel the anger and resentment which i don't, by the way, celebrate but exacerbated by about a week after the event that made a laughingstock you have kevin mccarthy going down to florida to patch things up. >> the entire proceeding took just under an hour's lawmakers moved swiftly through certifying each states electoral college result in one of the most remarkable scenes was kamala harris who presided over the united states senate

and obviously she lost the election in november. she was the one who ultimately certified the election results and proclaimed donald trump the next president of the united states. this is really a formality again. on capitol hill, typically, a lot of viewers may not have paid attention prior to four years ago on capitol hill. but obviously a lot has transpired since then and an unremarkable uneventful day as certification took place. >> thank you so much, lauren fox. we still have more news to get to not just here in the united states and around the world as well and you are watching cnn central. we will be back in just a moment.

the pentagon has reached a legal settlement with thousands ofand lesbian military personnel with the don't ask don't tell policy and a civil rights complaint revealed some members were denied a discharge honorable and access to services. we are now joined with more and bring us up to speed. >> reporter: the entire purpose of this lawsuit filed a year and a half ago and the settlement here they say they have reached is to correct the records of thousands of the service members discharged under don't ask don't tell and the total number discharged was 30,000 and this according to the plaintiffs could affect 18,000 of those, a very large

group. the purpose is to correct the record if the record has the word discriminatory, sexual indication indicators as part of the reason this member left the military. the settlement agreement aims to correct that without going through a formal board of corrections process which could be timely and difficult and this effectively makes everything simpler and more efficient and could help thousands of servicemembers according to the plaintiff. we should note that we reached out for comment to the department of defense and they haven't confirmed a settlement has been reached. the plaintiffs say there is a agreement -- an agreement and this is been an ongoing process to correct the records for those discharged under don't ask don't tell and this a big part of it to make it easier to show an honorable discharge and if they want an option to reenlist much faster.

>> the pentagon had seen efforts like this before. i wonder where do those stand and how are they different than this? >> of those efforts are ongoing and it was several months ago they announced they had actively reviewed the records of some 800 servicemembers and upgraded their discharge so they had an honorable discharge. but the first difference are the numbers that affected 800 servicemembers and this according to the plaintiffs could affect 18,000 and second as part of the broader record to affect those records but the purpose here is to correct and fix the records and do right by those discharged under don't ask don't tell and this affects a much larger group. we will see how many sign on to this to correct records from years ago. >> thank you so much for that update. >> coming up, four years after the insurrection , congress certifies the electoral victory of president-elect donald trump

and the latest on what unfolded after a few minutes. stay with us.

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powering five years of savings. powering possibilities. comcast business. four years after donald trump supporters invaded the capital trying to stop the certification of president biden's electoral victory, congress met again today this time to confirm trump's returned to the white house and we will show you how it was marked by lawmakers and the unprecedented security inside